Playbook · Ownership
Own your own business.
If losing one person — they quit, they vanish, they get mad at you — would cost your business its website, domain, email, or customer data, then you don't really own your systems yet. Here's how to fix that. No sales pitch — just straight answers.
Quick reason to trust me here: a big part of my day job is taking the stuff a company runs on off one person's computer and moving it into accounts the company itself owns — its own cloud, its own logins, its own keys — without the business ever going down during the switch. The same idea works all the way down to a one-truck shop.
My web designer won't give me access to my site. Can they do that?
Often, yeah — if your contract never said otherwise and they're the ones holding the domain and hosting logins. Some shops keep those keys on purpose, so every future change has to run back through them. Whether they're actually allowed to lock you out comes down to what your agreement says and whose name the domain is registered under.
So start here: can you log in to the domain registrar and the site's admin yourself? That — not who built the thing — is what really controls it.
The catch: nobody ever wrote down who owns it, so they get to hold the keys.
Who legally owns my domain name?
Whoever's listed as the registrant on it. You can check right now — it's a free public WHOIS lookup (just the record of who a domain belongs to). Here's the gut-punch: if your designer registered it under their own name, they legally own it — even though you paid for it — and you've got no claim to it until they hand it over. The fix is simple: get the domain put in your business's name, in an account you log into.
The catch: whoever's on the WHOIS record owns the domain. That's it.
My agency is holding my website hostage. How do I get it back?
This one usually happens because the agency set the domain and hosting up under their accounts, and now they're using that access as a bargaining chip in a billing or cancellation fight. To get it back, you need two things: into the domain, and into the site's admin. If they won't play ball, the registrar can often help you reclaim a domain that's in your business's name — you show proof of the business and your payment records — and there are formal dispute processes if it comes to that.
Going forward: never let a vendor be the owner of an account. Give them their own login you can shut off, and nothing more.
The catch: they own the accounts, so they've got the leverage. Fix the ownership.
I paid for it — don't I own it?
Not automatically — I know, it feels backwards. Under US copyright law, when you hire an outside contractor, they keep the copyright to the code and design unless a written agreement hands it to you. And "work for hire," the loophole people usually lean on, doesn't even cover software. So paying for it isn't the same as owning it. Every build contract should spell out, in writing, an assignment that makes the code, design, and content yours the moment you pay.
The catch: paying for it isn't owning it — not without it in writing.
My developer disappeared. What now?
This is the classic one-person trap: the domain's under their personal email, the hosting's buried in their account, and nothing's written down — so the day they go quiet, your whole site is stuck. Reclaim the domain through the registrar using your business and payment records, move the hosting over to an account in your name, and get yourself an admin login to the site.
Then make sure it can't happen twice: every account in the business's name, and at least one person on your side who always has the keys.
The catch: the whole site sat on one person's accounts. See access & logins.
An agency owns my Google Business Profile and won't transfer it.
What probably happened: they made themselves the Primary Owner of the listing instead of putting your business there. Google has a way to request ownership — it kicks off a waiting period — and you can also report a third party who's managing your listing without your say-so. And there's a quiet risk to just leaving it with them: if some other client in that agency's account gets flagged, your profile can get swept up in the same mass suspension. Get your business set as the Primary Owner, and leave the agency as a manager only.
The catch: the agency made itself the owner, not you.
Google Workspace or Microsoft 365?
Honestly? Either one's fine, and at the entry tier they're within a buck or two of each other. Go with Google Workspace if you want it simple, easy to share in real time, and not much IT fuss. Go with Microsoft 365 if you live in the desktop Office apps and lean hard on Excel.
But the thing that actually matters here isn't the brand — it's who owns it. Whichever you pick, your business needs to hold the top admin account, not some contractor. The real trap is letting a vendor stand the whole thing up under their account, so you end up renting your own email.
The catch: you're asking the wrong question. Ownership beats brand.
What if my hosting expires or my account gets suspended — is it all gone?
It can be — that's the scary part. Once an account lapses, most hosts wipe your files after about a 30-day grace period. And if a Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 account gets suspended, you lose your email, files, and calendar all at once — getting it back is an appeal, not a promise.
So don't leave it to chance. Keep your own backups of the site somewhere off the platform, export your email and files every so often, and make sure renewal notices land in an inbox somebody actually checks. Then run a test restore once — before you ever need it — so you know the backup really works.
The catch: renewal reminders going to a dead inbox, and no backup of your own.
How I'd approach it
The company owns everything. One person on the inside always holds the keys.
The whole thing fits on a sticky note. Your domain, hosting, email, marketing accounts, and data all live in the business's name. Contractors get their own login you can switch off anytime — never ownership of the account. You always keep at least two admins (you plus one other). And you've got a backup that lives off the platform and that you've actually tested. Every build contract says the work becomes yours the day you pay for it.
Then a five-minute check every few months keeps it honest: WHOIS still shows your name, your registrar login still works, your site admin still works, you're still the Primary Owner on Google and Meta, and the backup actually ran. That's the same "no single point of failure, written down, owned" habit I use on systems a whole company runs on — and it's the one thing that makes sure no vendor and no ex-employee can ever hold your business hostage.
Take back the keys
Not sure you actually own your own stuff?
Just tell me what's sitting under someone else's account — the website, the domain, the Google listing — and I'll tell you straight how to get it back in your name, cleanly.
Tell me what you can't get into →